Life In Blue
by Tigerdust
Summary: Sequel to Post Marla Depression Syndrome. With Mia home, Tyler is sure that he'll be pushed out of the way, but Mia is a better sister than that. Mild slash, non graphic, and language. Neither movie owned by me.


Perhaps the light plumes of smoke coming from the kitchen were not the best indicators of a cooked burger. But Tyler had offered and Dom had gratefully agreed. It wasn't that he liked washing dishes as much as he was afraid of giving someone food poisoning. Well, maybe not afraid. It was more of dealing with the hassle than anything else.

Mia's voice echoed over the sizzle of the burgers. Tyler heard her and called back that he was in the kitchen, not realizing that she had called for Dom. He heard the thunk of her bag as she walked over. The layout of the place was such that it was more difficult to see into the kitchen than out of. And what he saw was stunning.

She had that same presence as Marla, as though she were just containing herself for convenient purposes. She was wearing low-rise jeans and a spaghetti strap top under a flannel button-down. She was almost a tomboy and yet the way her hair fell around her shoulders said otherwise. In the old days, Tyler would have stuttered around someone like her. But he had Dom and some form of pride in himself. So he did nothing more than to continue to squirt mustard onto a burger in his hand.

"What are you supposed to be?" Mia leaned against the doorway as if examining Tyler.

He looked down to make sure that there was no mustard on his shirt, not that he had ever been impeded by that sort of thing before. "What?"

"You're not my brother."

Tyler chuckled. "I've never been anyone's brother. You must be Mia. Hungry?"

Mia sniffed the air. "Smells good. You cooking?"

Tyler nodded. "Dom didn't want to poison anybody. He said he'd wash up afterwards and that's alright with me."

"Where's my brother?"

Dom's voice came from the backyard. "Your brother is waiting out here for you to come say hello."

Mia walked cheerfully out towards the back and was enveloped by her brother. It was rare to see Dom smiling and so Tyler turned off the burner and watched from the window as the last of the burgers finished. It was clear that they were close, close enough that you knew they were really all each other had. Tyler bit down on his lip. He didn't want to admit the fear he felt over losing Dom, not that Dom could ever be something to be won.

Tyler plated the rest of the burgers and walked through the house with them towards the backyards. He caught the tail end of a snippet involving the word stray. Dom had just finished answering as Tyler walked out into the sun, Kirk on his heels. He had been in a mood that day, naming the stray who had taken to following him everywhere. It did not go unnoticed that a bit of his burger ended up on the ground.

"TJ, this is my..."

Tyler finished Dom's sentence as he pointed with his beer at Mia. "Your sister, we've met."

Mia looked from Tyler to Dom. "Yeah, we just telling me that you guys met one night when you were trashed."

Tyler walked towards the table. "He might be leaving out a few details."

Mia shrugged as she followed Tyler. "Dom likes to do that."

Dom sat first, waiting to see who would grab for the first burger. "Hey, don't make me the bad guy here."

They ate in relative silence, talking about polite topics like the garage or Mia's schooling. All the while, Tyler's ear drums were doing a conga dance in his head. He had so many questions about what happened now with Mia home. He just assumed that Dom wouldn't want her to think that he was together with "the stray." Tyler ate with his head down for quite a bit of that meal.

He observed over the next couple of days, drawing into himself. If Dom noticed, he didn't say much on how Tyler scurried into his room and shut the door. Or about the way he just worked on the cars, examining them as though they would catch on fire at any moment. But he couldn't hide from Dom forever.

Tyler awoke one morning with a thirst for a cold one. It was abnormal to wake with that thirst, for Tyler at least, but he figured there was no harm in occasional indulgence now that Dom more or less kept him from the drunk tank.

Dom's barrel of a body appeared as the door swung shut behind Tyler, startling him and almost making him drop the Corona. "Isn't it a little early for that?"

Tyler sighed and shook his head. "Geez, Dom. Sneak up on a guy, will ya? If I drink it slow it probably won't be too early before too long."

Dom shook his head. "Is that all I get from you? After silence and barricading yourself in your own room for days on end?"

Tyler became defensive, gripping his beer. "I'm doing the job you got me."

Dom lowered his voice. "Yeah, well, you're not really doing the job I want."

"Careful, Dom. Your sister's home and you wouldn't want her to think..."

Dom cocked his head, examining Tyler. "Is that what this is all about? Mia, come in here!"

Tyler's eyes went wide as she came passing through the kitchen again. "Someone making breakfast?"

Dom pointed to Tyler while talking to Mia. "Is it okay if I'm with him?"

Mia shrugged. "The stray? It's none of my business. Isn't it a little early for a Corona?"

Dom nodded. "That's what I told him."

The volume of the conversation turned down for Tyler. He couldn't have ever thought a relationship like that could exist. It was so strange and honest. He wasn't sure he'd ever even been that honest with Dom. Before she had come back, they had just laid there together some nights and talked aimlessly about the past and the present, sometimes even the future. But Dom kept the heist guarded and Tyler never even touched his psychotic past. There were things that burned too hot for either to say.

Things got better over the next few days. Tyler couldn't deny Dom the things he wanted when Dom beckoned him across the hall or after a day's workout at the garage. Tyler became prone to leaving his door ajar at night while listening to old rock records on a makeshift sound system he had bought downtown for three times the price it was worth. That was really all he had and really all he had need for. He didn't mind so much. Then Mia walked by and caught of glimpse of what looked like air guitar.

Mia knocked on the door, causing Tyler to flip his music off almost immediately. "I'm sorry, too loud?"

Mia chuckled as she walked over to the stack of albums. "Damn, you're way too polite. Feel like a strong breeze of cuss words would knock you over."

"I hear some pretty strong stuff in the garage."

Mia nodded. "Yeah, but that's the nature of men. They just have to show off for each other."

"And what about you?"

Mia scanned the back of one of the albums. "Me? I never liked the bitchiness of having girlfriends. Letty was as close...then again, you do know about Letty, right?"

Tyler returned his own shrug. "It doesn't exactly surprise me. But most of what your brother has done has been a surprise."

"Like taking you in?"

Tyler bit down on his lip as he sat up. "Among other things, yes."

"You're not very comfortable having me around, are you?" Mia stated in a flat voice.

"I was just used to you being all around the countryside, racing cars. It's just different. It'll just take me some time."

Mia looked at Tyler sharply. "Time is one thing my brother doesn't have a lot of. He lives life like most people can't. A quarter mile at a time is his life and it's not hard to see he misses you."

"I'm right across the hall."

Mia chuckled as she replaced the album. "You should know that's not enough for him. Is that enough for you?"

Tyler let his eyes glaze over. No, it wasn't. He missed the sound of Dom's snoring. He missed walking naked down the hallway to the shower, finding that Dom was chasing him. He missed like what he felt the honeymoon was. But he knew that marriage was more than that. However, he and Dom weren't married and weren't really even an item. He wasn't sure he even wanted item status. Just Dom, that was pretty much enough.

Mia continued, looking around the room. "Well, if you're gonna make my brother chase you then I would suggest we paint the room."

"My room?"

"Do you see me standing in another one?"

Tyler's brow furrowed. "What's wrong with the room? This is how it was when I got here."

Mia lifted up a trash bag with dirty clothes in the corner, next to the dresser. "Exactly. If this is going to be your home then we'd best do a bit of work on it."

"You don't have to do that."

Mia shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not."

When the next Saturday off came, Mia surprised Tyler once more by showing up in a baseball cap at his door with two cans of pain and a couple of rollers, a brush hanging off one of the almost dripping buckets. He could tell it was a shade of darker blue, but still kind of light. Something that Home Depot might have given a cute name too like periwinkle. It still had strong masculine overtones but had just that hint. It was the perfect color for Tyler's room.

They spent an hour dragging things into the hall while Dom continued tinkering in the garage. They began on opposite portions of the room, a taciturn silence filling the space that the elephant that first day at the picnic table had opened. Dom and Mia were mature, realistic people. Tyler just couldn't face the things he felt. In some ways, Mia sensed this as they painted and so she waited, just as she had.

"Sorry."

Mia looked down at her shoes when they had come back for paint, a few drips sliding down off of her trainers. "That makes you sorry?" Her eyes twinkled with a bemused look.

Tyler shrugged and turned his back on Mia. In response, before he could set the next brush stroke on the wall, he felt the cold stickiness of pain roll across his back. Tyler turned, his eyes wide.

"Now that is something to be sorry about!" Mia grinned madly.

Something inside Tyler's brain clicked. "Fine. You want to play it that way?"

Dom nearly intervened once when they were howling and laughing far louder than what sounded playful. They didn't hear him pad down the hallway or the deep chuckle in his voice as he turned away, shaking his head at the state of the room's occupants. The only thing he double-checked for was newspaper laid on the floor so the spills would be minimal. Although, Dom was pretty sure forcing Tyler to move to his room might not be a bad deal after all.

Tyler collapsed in a fit of laughter onto the floor and Mia sat down cross legged. One side of his face matched one of the knees of her jean in color and length. Between breaths, Tyler thought about the mess. "Perhaps we should actually try and paint the walls."

"Yeah, but that was fun though."

"Messy."

Mia balanced her roller on her legs. "Well, Dom can always help you clean up and I'll be gone before long anyways."

Tyler shook his head. "You don't have to do that for me."

"For you? I'm doing it for my brother, for myself. A couple of my friends want to get a place and I've agreed to go."

Tyler's voice lowered. "Does Dom know?"

Mia nodded. "I told him on the trip to buy the paint. I'm only a couple of doors down and I'll still work at the garage, but I want my own space. This works out best for everybody."

"Couldn't you have said something without painting me the shade of a smurf?"

"I had to loosen you up somehow."

They hugged while still sticky with paint as Mia packed up for the night, promising she'd see the paint when it was dried and finished, which would probably take about three days considering all the coats and the color of Tyler's face. He sauntered back down the hallway, his ears unable to even ring from being stuffed up with gunk. Tyler was careful not to spill a drop on the floors of the house. He cared about the place as though it were a home.

He couldn't see Dom in the backyard as the sun lowered. Kirk nipped at his heels, confused by the blue man that resembled his impromptu master. Tyler shook him away just in time, right before the jets of frigid water began to hit his body.

Tyler thrashed around for a bit until he realized that the water was being aimed by friendly fire. Dom appeared with the hose in one hand and a towel in the other from the side of the house.

"You were filthy."

Tyler's teeth chattered. "There are things called showers, Dom. They even run hot water over you now."

Dom approached with the towel and began to rub it through Tyler's hair. "Yeah, but showers aren't always full service. We'll probably have to get those clothes rung out a bit too."

The decision was made for Tyler as Dom's strong hands ripped through buttons and the shirt fell to the ground. He felt himself being pulled into Dom's strong embrace. He could smell Dom's natural pleasant scent mixed with the water and paint as it trailed to a nearby drain. He didn't want to ask the question, but Tyler felt so much guilt that he had to ask.

"Are you okay with Mia leaving?"

The rubbing from the soft towel paused with Tyler still in Dom's embrace. He felt himself being pulled tighter until he was forced to look up into Dom's eyes. His voice was hearty, as though it was a labored and over thought statement that he had practiced. "Mia's a big girl. She doesn't need me to take care of her anymore."

"She still loves you Dom."

Tyler felt Dom push away, the towel clinging to his shoulders. In that moment of twilight, he understood how alone Dom felt. He knew that feeling of alone. That feeling of trapped desperation and despair that was unspeakable, that created things like a destructive alter ego.

"I know that. Mia's got great and important things to do in her life. I would just get in the way."

Tyler walked back into Dom's line of vision. "Don't start that bullshit with yourself, Dom. Besides, you look like you could use a little taking care of yourself."

"Yeah? You don't think I can take care of myself?"

Tyler took the towel from his shoulders and handed it back to Dom. "That's not what I said."


End file.
